I speak to bloggers intent on niching down.
Some vibe with the approach.
Others are better served by following a simple, practical, smart approach based on connecting with core readers by establishing clarity.
Toss in a dash of persistence and you’ve the same success – or even greater – than if you’d niched down.
Check out my friend Ben Killoy’s blog:
Ben offers a valued service; he is a life coach for veterans.
Being a veteran himself, Ben is intimately aware of issues most veterans face after their service.
He instantly catches the eye of any United States veteran with a clear, crisp image on his home page: the United States flag.
Peep the first 3 words on his site: “Vet Life Coach.”
This is clarity in action.
He doesn’t need to niche down at all. Ben’s good there, as his home page speaks a loud, clear message: veterans seeking life coaching, inspiration and support can expect each service rendered through his blog.
Ben’s current course of action is to keep publishing content geared directly toward inspiring, aiding and assisting veterans with each and every post.
The simple action of speaking to the same, targeted reader through every blog post yields immense results over the long haul.
Staying on topic by speaking to a specific reader is a powerful approach ignored by many bloggers who have effectively niched down and have no need to narrow down their niche anymore.
Ben is doing a fine job publishing content aimed directly at veterans each and every post. Sharing a clear, persistent message for a targeted reader forms the foundation for every successful blog.
Why?
People love specialists.
Specializing
If you do one thing for one person over the long haul you tend to do that one thing well.
Where your attention and energy goes, grows.
Clarity thing.
Specialists do one thing persistently, do it darn well over the long haul, and become known as a go-to gal or guy in the niche.
Tony Robbins is the Why Guy. He is an elite life coach because he spent decades of his life focusing 100% of his attention and energy toward serving people who wanted life coaching. Even though the life coaching niche is broad he became the most famous life coach of all time because all he did was life coaching, getting clearer and clearer, sharing free and premium content and services across a wide range of platforms.
He literally created the Tony Robbins Why Guy niche by never changing course and by sharing specific content and services for a specific individual, with loving, caring energy, over decades of his life.
Even tackling a broad niche, the power of clarity and persistence wins.
Most bloggers niche down beautifully but panic, changing topics with the 4 winds when things seem to be going slow, business-wise. I did the same thing for years, enduring struggles and muted success.
Finally I wisened up with Blogging From Paradise. I decided to write only about blogging tips – with a fun travel themed post or page tossed in here and there, to share my life away from blogging – for bloggers. I spoke a clear, persistent message again and again. Even though I technically niched down to serve bloggers who want to become full time travel bloggers, some folks say (they, not me) I’m one of the top blogging tips bloggers on earth. This is due to 2 factors; me staying on topic for virtually every post and persistently applying this strategy for years.
You Likely Don’t Need to Niche Down
You just need to stay on topic.
For months.
Then for years.
Before you publish any blog post, ask yourself: “Does this post specifically address the needs of my targeted reader?”
Nod “yes” and publish or shake your head “no” and trash it.
Stay on topic for years and you will create your own thriving, successful blogging niche.